Category: Author Review

If you have been around here lately you probably have heard me gushing about the book Thirteen reasons Why.  If you have not read my review, I highly encourage you to do so!  Every once in a while a book really touches us, many times we do not even know why.  I am not sure it is the timing, or something just strikes  cord and you think yes.  This is a wonderful book.  That is where I am with this book.

Today I am overjoyed to welcome Jay Asher to the chat room to have a cup of coffee and share a little bit about the book and himself – please give a warm welcome to author, Jay Asher.

Jay:  I’d actually been trying to get books published for nine years before I began Thirteen Reasons Why.  Those other books were all humorous and for younger children.  Over those years, I joined a couple critique groups and attended as many writing conferences as I could.  I also entered every writing contest I could find, winning a few along the way, and some of them brought me in contact with agents and editors that later came in handy.  The community I found at the conferences and the confidence I gained by winning contests is what kept me going through all the rejection letters.

Even though I was only interested in writing funny books for kids, the concept of Thirteen reasons Why was too intriguing to ignore.  And, something that surprised me, writing never felt as natural as it did when I began working on my serious teen novel.  So I suppose it is a good idea to try new things!  After the three years that it took to write and polish the manuscript, I queried a few agents and only one showed interest.  She sent it out and we got a dozen rejections before three houses began bidding on it.  So be willing to try new things and don’t give up!

Jay:  The topic of suicide was important to me because a close relative attempted suicide when she was a junior in high school, just like Hannah in my book.  That occurred many years before I even considered writing for teens, though.  Actually, I’d only read maybe five teen novels before I began working on my own.  I was just itching to try a new type of writing, so I thought about writing a suspenseful book for teens.  That’s all I knew I wanted to do.  And then the concept hit me.  A girl records her reasons for committing suicide onto a bunch of audio cassettes and the reader follows one boy as he listens to the tapes to find out where his name pops up.  Because of my personal understanding of this issue, when the idea came to me, I wasn’t afraid to work on it.  In fact, I thought it was something I should work on because our society has such a hard time discussing this very real problem.

Jay: I had the idea for doing a sort of “audiotour book” for several years before I found the right story for it.  In Las Vegas, I took an audiotour of a mock-up of King Tut’s tomb.  It was my first audiotour, and when it was over, I immediately thought, “That would be an awesome way to format a novel.”  But I thought it was such a unique storytelling device, I didn’t want to waste it on a story where the structure was just a gimmick.  It needed to enhance the story.  Having Clay’s immediate reactions to Hannah’s recorded words was, I thought, the perfect way to tell her story.

Jay:  There were the usual struggles of trying to keep things moving and interesting.  But the part which made me the most nervous to write was the hot tub scene.  Again, I’d spent nine years writing manuscripts for young children.  I wasn’t used to writing anything with sexual overtones, and there wasn’t going to be anything “overtone” about that scene.  I knew that scene was extremely important in getting across the full arc of Hannah’s emotional slide, so it wasn’t a scene I could get around.  As well, I thought the reader needed to be uncomfortable while reading it in order to really grasp what was going on.  Once I began working on it, I just let myself get into “honest writer mode” and went for it.  But the fifty or so pages leading up to that scene made me a nervous wreck.  “Forty more pages until the hot tub scene.”  “Fifteen more pages.”  “The next page!”  It turns out, not only was that scene important for the story, but it was important to a lot of my readers.  I’ve had several girls thank me for writing that scene and letting others know what going through something like that is emotionally like.

Jay: It’s just another book about The Golden Rule.  It’s about the ripple effect of decisions, sometimes small decisions, made by people not following The Golden Rule.  As Hannah says, “You never know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own.”  And that’s why it’s important to always be conscious of how we treat others.  At the same time, Hannah isn’t without fault.  She pushed people away.  She made bad decisions.  I thought it was also important for people to notice times when Hannah didn’t do herself any favors.

Jay:  Yes.  Later.  And not much.  (Tee-hee!)

Jay: It’s won some state awards that were voted on by teens, which makes those my absolute favorite awards.  The California Book Award was a huge honor.  For that, I got to stand behind a podium and give an acceptance speech with Michael Chabon and Khaled Hosseini in the front row.  And I made them laugh!!!

Jay:  I once dressed-up as a werewolf for Halloween.  I think I was in sixth grade.  It was a very elaborate costume where I used a special glue to attach strips of fake fur to my face and arms and legs.  I actually slept in the fur because I got home so late, but I had a basketball game the next day so I woke up early to start peeling the stuff off.  That’s what the glue bottle said.  “Peels right off.”  But it didn’t.  My mom used rubbing alcohol, warm water, and lots of tugging.  We finally got most of it off before the game, but I had to keep my left sock pulled up high to cover the remaining fur around my ankle.  But I still love Halloween!  And werewolves!!!

Great story Jay!  Thank you so much for stopping in and sharing about Thirteen Reasons Why.  I am very curious as to what you have coming up next and would like to tell my readers that this is an author to watch!   If you have not read Thirteen reasons Why I highly recommend that you do!

I am beyond excited today to be able to have this conversation with author, Becca Fitzpatrick.  Becca wrote the YA book hush, hush and she has agreed to take some time and join me here.

Please welcome Becca Fitzpatrick!

So Becca, thank you for taking the time to share a little with me and my readers about you and your wonderful book hush hush.  This being your first book, what was the idea that brought this story line together?

Becca:  I started writing HUSH, HUSH in 2003, after my husband enrolled me in a writing class for my birthday (I should add that he’s very creative when it comes to gifts). For one of the class assignments, my instructor asked me to write a scene “showing, not telling, humiliation.” Typically for these assignments, I wrote fictional pieces, but with this particular assignment, I was struck by the memory of something that happened to me in my tenth-grade biology class. My teacher had asked me, in front of the whole class, to name characteristics I’d want in a mate. It was really embarrassing. For those who’ve read HUSH, HUSH, you can probably guess exactly which scene in the book was the result of this writing assignment! Over the course of five years, that scene expanded into a chapter, then several chapters, then an entire book – HUSH, HUSH.

That is such a great memory!  Describe that feeling when you first knew your book is going to be published?

Becca: *Laughing*   I’m having a really hard time finding the words to describe the shock and euphoria of achieving a dream!   Even supercalifragilisticexpialidocious seems to fall a little short. After what probably amounted to close to one hundred rejections for HUSH, HUSH, I thought it would be a miracle if the book was published. And maybe it was a miracle. I find the whole thing was pretty miraculous!

Oh my gosh – that is fantastic.  You hear of so many authors that are rejected tim eand again and it just s takes that one person… well, here you are!  The title hush hush is fantastic.  How did you come up with this title and why is is in small letters?

Becca:  I’m not sure why it’s in small letters. You’ll have to ask Lucy Cummins at Simon & Schuster, the creative mind behind HUSH, HUSH’s cover design. I can say, however, that I love it! When I was searching for titles, I stumbled across the definition of the word hush in the dictionary. It means “to keep concealed.” I thought that was a perfect description of Patch and Nora’s relationship in this book. After all, he’s keeping quite a few things from her.

That is perfect!  To me the small “hush hush” makes me think of quiet…. like a secret.  What advice would you give someone who would like to write a novel?

Becca: I highly recommend keeping a journal, and writing in it daily. You never know when your own life experiences will inspire a story. Try not to procrastinate. Sometimes it can be tempting to think and plan and plot the novel, but never actually sit down to write it. The crazy thing is, most of the time, the plot and characters evolve during the writing process. And while this might seem a little repetitive, it bears repeating. READ. Read, read, read. It’s brain candy 🙂

Every Author I chat with I ask them to share one little known fact about themselves.

Becca: I played the clarinet in my high school marching band. After the halftime performance, I always sneaked off and went home. School spirit, right here!

That is seriously awesome!  I think that right there is a great scene for a book.  You are filled with great material!  Is there anything new and exciting coming up?

Becca: Lots of exciting things coming up! I’m going on tour for HUSH, HUSH during January and February. I’ll be in Texas, Arizona, and California. For a full lineup, visit my website at beccafitzpatrick.com

Well Becca I am excited for the second book that is due out fall 2010!  Thank you so much for stopping by and hanging out with us here at One Persons Journey Through A World of Books!

My review of Hush Hush

My review on Amazon

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to post my review of Marriage 101 by Jewell R. Powell.  I really enjoyed her insight into marriage and the book was a pleasure to read.  I asked Jewell if she would have a little time to join me here at One Person’s Journey Through Books and share a little bit about her book with us.

She said yes.  Please warmly welcome, Jewell R. Powell.

Jewell, I am so excited to have you here.  I enjoyed reading your book and found a couple…. errr, maybe more, things that I could apply into my own marriage.   What are some of the unrealistic expectations couples have today about marriage?

Jewell: Thank you Sheila, my answer to that question would be:

• #1 Couples who are happy in their marriages, don’t have problems.

• #2 Your spouse should be perfect with no imperfections.

• #3 What we see on TV, read in fictional books and see in movies regarding relationships are real.

• #4 Marriage should be easy, it shouldn’t require so much work.

What advice would you give to  husbands to improve their marriage?

Jewell: My husband says, “tell them not to think about the negative things going on in their marriage or else they will be angry most of the time.” I say, men must know they are ultimately responsible for the failure and/or success of their family. Men need to understand they are not only responsible to be head of their family but they are directly accountable to Christ. This enables him to get in position to hear directly from God concerning the will of God for their family. Lewis says that when we separated, although I was praying to God for our marriage, he was too.  The reconciliation would have not taken place, if he also wasn’t seeking God as to his family and what He should do.

What advice do you have for wives to improve their marriage?

Jewell: The biggest lesson for me was how I can honor God through my marriage. God taught me that to honor Him, I was to honor Lewis. Also, God created men with the need for respect from his wife, it’s the top of his list and he needs it almost as much as he needs air to breathe. When we value and respect someone, we invest ourselves in their care & and take the time to build up their feelings of self-worth. A man who doesn’t receive respect from his wife is a man who begins to deteriorate and so will the relationship. The kind of love & respect God is calling wives to have for their husbands is sacrificial and unconditional.

That’ s good advice.  I have read that before that while women find the most important thing is to feel loved, to a man the most important thing is to be respected.  What would you say to that person who is literally at the end of their rope…. and can’t do it anymore?

Jewell: I was at that point so I completely understand. I will say what someone said to me, DON”T GIVE UP! God says, I know the plans I have toward you they are good and not evil to give you an expected end.

I must admit that my struggle was me concentrating on what he was doing or was not doing that I didn’t like. I learned to stop looking at him and focus on the changes I needed to make within me to be a better wife. It took a lot of work! We all want better marriages but no one is willing to change and there lies the problem. So the question to them, Are you willing to change?

(NOTE: I am not speaking to the one who is going through physical abuse)

How can spouses put the spark back in their marriage?

Jewell: It doesn’t take money or any grand gesture such as taking a Hawaiian vacation.  Start small, eat dinner by candlelight. Have a picnic in the middle of the living room floor. Email an e card or go for a walk. Talk kindly to one another.  In the back of Marriage 101 and on the website (www.marriage101.us), I have a list of 30 love deposits to get you started.

That’s a good idea Jewell!  I will check that out on your website.  Is their one biblical verse that you cling too?

Jewell: Isaiah 55:8-11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts…” I have realized, as a Christian, that God expects me (us) to do things that really don’t make sense. I must say that it is not my favorite scripture but it helps me to stay focus – to do the right thing.

Jewell, this book is so timely and well written, are their any plans for any more books in your future?

Jewell: I have a four (4) book mini-series coming out in December 2009 that covers marriage topics we all face: Sex & Intimacy, Communication, Parenting, and Finance. In addition, there is a Marriage 101 Marriage Enrichment and Premarital Curriculum.

Thank you Jewell so much for taking the time to sit and chat with us today.  Readers, please take time to read the Review of Marriage 101 and check out the “Date Package Giveaway” being offered to one lucky commenter.